Scheelite Canyon, AZ
Bird of the Day: Spotted Owl
Scheelite Canyon, AZ
Swimming Elephants
We happened to meet Mr. Senthil – a planter who regularly assists the Forestry Department, who is also a frequent customer at Cardamom County. He shared one of his rare videos taken near the southern region of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Schneider Electric: Saving Energy across Multiple Cultures
Last week in my Facilities Management course at the Cornell Hotel School, Al Nels, Global Account Manager for Marriott from Schneider Electric, presented in class as a guest speaker. His presentation explored the energy-saving capabilities of various systems developed by Schneider Electric, as well as simple tips that hotels often overlook. Among the many insights Nels shared, one in particular stood out to me: the cultural divide between American and European hotel guests—and the steps that Schneider is taking in order to save energy in both areas of the world.
Facts & Figures
Michael Pollan, whose ideas we have mentioned surprisingly infrequently relative to the impact they have had on our collective lives, made the wise decision to team up with one of our favorite illustrators (have we really not featured her here yet?). Continue reading
A Gandhi At Cornell University
Last week residents of the Cornell University community had the opportunity to hear the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi share anecdotes about their life together. But those anecdotes were not merely crumbs of celebrity worship–their point is clear all the way through Arun Gandhi’s message, delivered as the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture on February 13 in that University’s beautiful Sage Chapel.
Click the image to the right to go to the article, which includes an embedded link to a video recording of the Lecture.
Bird of the Day: Henslow’s Sparrow
Sligo Grasslands, PA
Pomelo (Citrus maxima)
The pomelo is the largest fruit in the citrus family and usually grows throughout Southeast Asia. The thick, easy to peel rind surrounds, juicy and fairly sweet yellow or pink flesh. The fruit averages about 15-25 centimeters in diameter and weighs around 1-2kg. Continue reading
Paper Guardian
Samantha Contis for The New York Times ©
Click the image above for a profile of an amazing entrepreneurial conservationist. The New York Times continues to demonstrate its subscription-worthiness. The key line in the profile, which we can relate to both in principal and practice:
Barrett, who is 61, has dedicated his life to unlocking the mysteries of paper, which he regards as both the elemental stuff of civilization and an endangered species in digital culture. For his range of paper-related activities, he received a $500,000 fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation in 2009. “Sometimes I worry about what a weird thing it is to be preoccupied with paper when there’s so much trouble in the world,” Barrett told me, “but then I think of how our whole culture is knitted together by paper, and it makes a kind of sense.”
Melville’s Muse
Click the image above to go to the publisher’s website (which also sells the book directly). If your only knowledge of the title creature comes from a high school literature class, the blurb on the book’s promotional page might make you think this book belonged in the syllabus of the last biology course you took:
Ranging far and wide, Ellis covers the sperm whale’s evolution, ecology, biology, anatomy, behavior, social organization, intelligence, communications, migrations, diet, and breeding. He also devotes considerable space to the whale’s hunting prowess, including its clashes with the giant squid, and to the history of the whaling industry that decimated its numbers during the last two centuries.
According to the review provided in the Times Literary Supplement, the book deserves more attention than that blurb would imply. Continue reading
Night Boarding
Indian Coral Tree ( Erythrina Indica)
Two days ago, when I went for a morning walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, the spectacular show of bright crimson flowers attracted my eyes and forced me to stop and take photos. Due to the change of seasons, the trees are shedding their leaves and putting their energy into blooming flowers–and the results are fabulously picturesque.
The Heart of The Matter
Playgrounds are fairly ubiquitous in most parts of the world, be they rusty swings or elaborate constructions. My own sons have clamored up wooden forts and rope bridges in upstate New York where they were born; metal piping in the shape of a plane fuselage in Costa Rica where they grew up; and inventive, child friendly park structures in Paris where we lived as well…not to mention any and all trees, stone walls and Mayan temples they would find in between.
In 2009 Japanese architectural firm Tezuka Architects teamed up with renowned Japanese crochet artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam to create a play space both uniquely charming and innovative, that even the most “Global Citizen” of children would be amazed by. Continue reading
Travel, Writing & Games
This series has always been worth reading, whether you are an American looking through the eyes of a fellow American, or otherwise intrigued by a niche of American perspective that is not quite representative of that culture as a whole.
First things first: sometimes a book, a music recording or other item is only available from the mainstream online retailers such as Amazon or iTunes, but whenever possible we promote the purchase from independent sellers. So click the image to the right if you want a link to independent booksellers in the USA, provided by the ever-entrepreneurial American Booksellers Association.
Now, the side show: the series editor Jason Wilson is also a contributor to a site we refer to on occasion, and he wrote an interesting item a couple of years ago that began:
Bird of the Day: Whooping Crane
Aransas, TX
Kathakali- Unique Dance
Here we are sharing the snapshots of Ms.Piranna who has been a guest at Cardamom County for the last two days. Yesterday they experienced the Kathakali performance, which is presented each evening at Thekkady. Continue reading
Ideas About Why To Hug A Tree
In several earlier posts Seth highlighted the evolution of environmental philosophy in readings for a course he was taking at Cornell University. For those of us not lucky enough to be in a course like that, there is a magazine whose current issue covers some of the same terrain. From one of the articles in that issue (click the image above to go directly to the source):
Leopold argued for the extension of what we see as worthy of our respect from the human community to include animals and the natural world, or what he referred to as ‘the biotic community’. His famous principle, briefly expressed, was, ‘A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise’.
Wild Things Lurk In Tranquil Places
Two of Milo’s recent posts–one about appetites and the other about maternal instincts–provide reminders that as beautiful as nature is, there are situational downsides. In an earlier post we mentioned Walton Ford, and it is interesting to consider Milo’s photographic observations in light of Ford’s work. And since Milo was writing from India, perhaps even in conjunction with the musical encounter below.
Do not let Milo’s fearsome photography, nor Walton Ford’s phantasmagorical extrapolations, lead you astray. Continue reading
Motherly Love
The dangers of coming between a mother and her child are well known. Bears are infamous for their maternal aggression. Lionesses delegate to other lionesses their maternal duties in order to hunt, but if anything gets too close, it’s “out with their bowels”! What about herbivores? Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Harlequin Duck
Barnegat, NJ
Gavi Sightings
Bison – The Indian Gaur grazing in the forest
Here we share some of the snapshots by Ms. Prianna, who took a trip to GAVI- a wildlife sanctuary, while staying with Cardamom County.
Organikos 